Irish Open Discussion - originally: "Irish Poker Championship Starts on TV Tonight"

HighFinance

Just a reminder folks.

11.30 pm on Network Two tonight sees the start of a six-week run of the Irish Poker Championship from Galway. With commentary from Jesse, presented by Laura Woods and produced (i believe) by Boards very own Karlh.

b.

Rb

Ughhhhh I fcking hate Laura Woods.

AdMMM

Upon googling her, I don't see what's wrong with her and will be prepared to forgive any shortcomings where poker knowledge is concerned.

Rb

|.Murderer.| wrote: »

Upon googling her, I don't see what's wrong with her and will be prepared to forgive any shortcomings where poker knowledge is concerned.

Have you not seen The Cafe or any other travesty of a show she's been on?

zuutroy

No great shakes in the looks department imo...makeup applied with trowel.

Theresalwaysone

Laura Woods... headwrecking. Not even eye candy.

Should be a good show tho. Im back in college so new drinking game. Everytime we see a boardsie its a shot.

Deal?ok deal.

cooker3

Never heard of her

sickpuppy

A plastering trowel or a brickies trowel?
Youd drop the hand at the same time if you got a chance.

cooker3

She doesn't look too bad from opening montage

Edit: lol @ learning poker from Fintan and skippy

Chucky the tree

I'd throw it in anyway.

Shockingly cringeworthy opening.

THEIRISHMOB

The first TV table seems to be made for table?

I thought that a tournament like this would have a random table and seat draw? Am I right in saying that these players were picked for the TV table?

paler

God, i wish they would get someone else to do the commentery, that Jessy may guy tilts me something terrible with that fake laugh. Have to stop playing while im watching it.

THEIRISHMOB

Finally some class on the table.
lookin good Nicky

nicnicnic

had a feeling it would be a brief appearance

bops

what's that film with nicholas cage and fast cars called??

FungiWalsh

I wonder how much Flipper paid Jesse May for the shout-out.

Quite the cooler, Nicky, ul.

Grafter

|.Murderer.| wrote: »

Upon googling her, I don't see what's wrong with her and will be prepared to forgive any shortcomings where poker knowledge is concerned.

Is it a different girl or is cable spreading the image for widescreen?

Rb

bops wrote: »

what's that film with nicholas cage and fast cars called??

hahaha

Hawk Eye

THEIRISHMOB wrote: »

The first TV table seems to be made for table?

I thought that a tournament like this would have a random table and seat draw? Am I right in saying that these players were picked for the TV table?

yes pokerevents show a consistency whenever theres a feature table to just put together whatever makes good tv. I'm not sure the why hell the TD would get boughed down in such matters but this the main reason I'll never play a PE televised event again regardless of how much dead money there seems to be. It not a coincidence that Nicky Power was next in, yer man Donal (scum IMO) just had a look quick glance round a few tables and picked out Nicky cause he's known around the circuit. Don't even think he was next on the BB which is standard procedure but Nicky can confirm.

Another example is when they wanted to get some local donk with lots of chips to sit the tv table so armed with a notepad they scoured the room and got someone off my table again not on big blind. Everyone at the table was naturally pissed off cause he was chip leader by a mile and spastically spewing off chips. When Neil Channing argued this sham saying that it was players putting up the prizepool etc said donk was brought back to the table even though he was microphoned up ready to go on lol.

Regarding Laura Woods she'd definitly get a shot at the title.

nicnicnic

funny how the mind plays tricks on you i was 100% sure i bet out the flop

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

nicnicnic

Hawk Eye wrote: »

. Don't even think he was next on the BB which is standard procedure but Nicky can confirm.

I was definitely hand picked, it was kinda an ambush, I think they wanted a good looking man because of that hot chick there

Hawk Eye wrote: »

Regarding Laura Woods she'd definitly get a shot at the title.

yep had me thinking soapy tit ****

thechamp87

nicnicnic wrote: »

yep had me thinking soapy tit ****

lol

BobSloane

nicnicnic wrote: »

funny how the mind plays tricks on you i was 100% sure i bet out the flop

Funny indeed! Did you not bet, he raise, and you shove? I just watched it and thought that was the action

BIG-SLICK-POKER

Any get this I missed it ?? Pop it up on youtube or Pokertube

nicnicnic

BobSloane wrote: »

Funny indeed! Did you not bet, he raise, and you shove? I just watched it and thought that was the action

that's what I thought all along


But watching it I check raised his 500 to 1500 he 4bet and I shoved, first time I considered folding was tonight

Flushdraw

nicnicnic wrote: »

that's what I thought all along


But watching it I checked raised his 500 to 1500 he 4bet and I pushed, first time I considered folding was tonight

lol

valor

3 bet nicky, 3 bet

nicnicnic

valor wrote: »

3 bet nicky, 3 bet

soz coach

dinjo99

"It not a coincidence that Nicky Power was next in, yer man Donal (scum IMO) just had a look quick glance round a few tables and picked out Nicky cause he's known around the circuit."


Hawk Eye,
Your point may or may not be valid but I really think it is outrageous that you would come on a public forum and call anyone scum. Dónal will probably not come on to defend himself as i believe he is in Africa doing charity work for a year.

Please have the decency to withdraw or else I hope you are banned from the forum.

strewelpeter

Anyone got what it takes to get this on to pokertube or to get a torrent going?

smurph

When our table got broken, I was given a ticket which got me moved to the same table as Ciaran O'Leary, he was the biggest "Profile" player left in the tournament, then 20minutes later our full table got moved onto the feature table.

I think that the feature table should be random, not hand picked....
Only my view.

dinjo99

I agree of course that it should be random. However calling anyone scum should not be tolerated on a public forum.

Am I correct Mods?

doke

Hawk Eye wrote: »

Another example is when they wanted to get some local donk with lots of chips to sit the tv table so armed with a notepad they scoured the room and got someone off my table again not on big blind. Everyone at the table was naturally pissed off cause he was chip leader by a mile and spastically spewing off chips. When Neil Channing argued this sham saying that it was players putting up the prizepool etc said donk was brought back to the table even though he was microphoned up ready to go on lol.

Was about to post something similar but you beat me to it. Clearly we were at the same table. You had to feel a little sorry for the guy though: he seemed well pissed off to miss his shot at You're a Poker Star.

My game seriously deteriorated when they moved Maud Mulder to our table. And on the first day of the Deepstack, they put Jen Mason right beside me. Clearly there's an ongoing conspiracy to get me off my game by always putting the best looking woman in the tournament at my table.

I hope the RTE thing shows up on Youtube because my VCR failed to connect with the flop yesterday, and I was looking forward to seeing Smurph's moments of glory.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

doke

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Good god Maud Mulder is hawt. Professional female hockey players ftw.

Indeed. Very personable too.

There's something about hawt athletic females that really sets the pulse racing.

I'm also convinced Neil Channing deliberately checked down the nuts to her in one hand for no other reason than to keep her at the table. But then, what other reason would you need?

AdMMM

There's something about hawt athletic females that really sets the pulse racing.

I'll treat ya so .

Regards the IPC, I'm just about to go watch it now. I'll burn it to a DVD and upload it in the coming days.

Trippie

ah alison stokke, quite tasty

binary101

dinjo99 wrote: »

"It not a coincidence that Nicky Power was next in, yer man Donal (scum IMO) just had a look quick glance round a few tables and picked out Nicky cause he's known around the circuit."


Hawk Eye,
Your point may or may not be valid but I really think it is outrageous that you would come on a public forum and call anyone scum. Dónal will probably not come on to defend himself as i believe he is in Africa doing charity work for a year.

Please have the decency to withdraw or else I hope you are banned from the forum.

I second that.
Normally, I just lurk on this site because it is an enjoyable read but I felt the need to create an account and come on to defend Donal because he is a decent, honest individual and even the most vehement PE-haters (and lets face it, there are a few here) are likely to agree.

Dinjo, you are right, Donal is in the Gambia for a year to assist his wife in her voluntary work for VSO. He flew back for a week to TD this tournament.

I'm sure all events strive to have a random seating draw for their feature table but let's not be naive here. There is PartyPoker, the independent TV production company,RTE, and the event organisers and they all have different interests and I'm sure it is difficult for the TD to find the right balance for all these interests when making decisions mid-event. I don't this problem would be unique to the IPC.

Personally, I see no problem with selectively picking players for the TV table. Taking Nicky as an example, he is a good player and a good writer and a positive net contributor to the game. I think its great that he gets some deserved TV exposure.

Finally, regarding the posts about the "local donk" who got miked up and then brought back to his table - his name was Keith McFadden and as I remember he had the Day 1 chip lead which he held all the way to the FT. I think he finished 5th or 6th. An unorthodox playing style for sure but donk sounds a little green-eyed.

Here's part of the T&C's when you sign up for boards.ie:

"By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws."

bohsman

Donals a good guy other than being a complete tilt head and I would not be able to work with him as a boss.

Rigging of the TV tables is a complete sham and I know of one boardsie who demanded a refund a year or two ago when he saw the seat draw for the tv table at the start, they admitted it was rigged and moved him off it. But then paddy power (liam flood) do this for the Irish Open aswell, remember a few threads on how people got moved last year.

Hawk Eye

I retract calling him scum it was just an off the cuff remark, Ive never even spoken to him. I just feel he's cheating every player in the tournament and think he should show a bit of dignity and stand up for himself if he's been told by the powers that be to rig the table draw. After all he's probably the highest profile TD in Ireland and I expected better at the IPC.

Ollieboy

Firstly they all rig there TV tables, it's to create a fan base for the event and also increase the interest in it. WSOP is a example of this. TV coverage is good for the game in general.

Donal is a good guy and loves his poker. I think Hawkeye should retrack the above statement asap and leave it at that. I'm sure he was also direct by other people to have interesting people on the TV table in the first place.

The main reason the rigging of a TV table is totally unacceptable is simple. The players pay the fee to play, they dont get paid by the TV companies to use there image etc. They end up creating a free TV show for companies to make money off, this is totally unacceptable and will not continue in the future. I'm sure no football player would be on the telly without getting paid for it. So if players are going to be used to create a product, they should be bought into the event at least. Even give them decent food at the break would help.

All players should protect there image rights, the problem is the media hungry players out there that dont protect it and will do it just to be on the telly etc. Also, nobody wants to miss out on the chance of winning a event.

I think its totally unacceptable that if you qualify for a live event through a online sat, you basically sign away your image rights. Any legal action taken against these companies should win in the European courts etc.

Tar.Aldarion

It was odd to see a guy that gave me programming tutorials on it at the start drinking, lol...

PPP-Pit Boss

I can see your point at TV table not being random but I have you honestly ever seen a large poker event with a completely randomized feature / tv table? There is nothing in the rules that states that the feature table selection has to be randomized.

I know you are going to argue against me but sure you know how I like a jolly good bashing for my opinions.

The cost of televising an event like this is enormous. The purpose of televising an event like this is publicity / brand advertising.
When you are watching golf on tv.. who do they show?
When you are watching tennis on tv do they show you the semi-pros who put up a rather uninteresting show of the game?
In any televised sport / leisure game do they focus on the less interesting and well known players.

The fact is, if televised poker consisted of a table full of amateur unknowns, nobody would watch it, ratings would be rubbish and you would have more chance of Dustin winning the Eurovision than getting the program aired on national tv again.

And that is not the only reason, the company is only partially involved in these shows being made. The broadcaster has a considerable input alwell.

Finally we will try to randomise the IO featured table this year within reason, but there are a number of rules that restrict the practicality of this:


1. Players are permitted to wear sponsors logos (without a ".com") on their shirts only. These logos will be no larger than 10cm * 7cm on the left breast pocket and no larger than 8cm * 3cm on each sleeve.

2. Players may wear sunglasses, hats or other headgear provided there is no visible branding and the players speech and ears are visible.

5. Players general appearance and sponsors shirts must be neat and clean. These shirts must have sleeves and collars (polo shirts and t–shirts will not be permitted) and must not be white. Sponsors must be aware that their players will not be allowed play on the feature table in unsuitable clothing. Tournament Organiser’s decision will be final. Substitute shirts will be provided if available.

7. No more than one third of the feature table players may be sponsored by the one company.

While doing this we are trying not to disrupt the tournament flow as much as possible. Selecting players who are going to have to change their clothing before sitting at the table is likely to cause such a disruption.

It is not "Rigging". And I would add we did not have a seat selection for the IO feature table we waited until the first table broke to seat it.

So there is my fifteen and a half cents.

Hawk Eye

binary101 wrote: »

I second that.
Normally, I just lurk on this site because it is an enjoyable read but I felt the need to create an account and come on to defend Donal because he is a decent, honest individual and even the most vehement PE-haters (and lets face it, there are a few here) are likely to agree.

Dinjo, you are right, Donal is in the Gambia for a year to assist his wife in her voluntary work for VSO. He flew back for a week to TD this tournament.

He sounds like a stand up fella with all this charity work, again sorry if I offended anyone by my comments.

binary101 wrote: »

Finally, regarding the posts about the "local donk" who got miked up and then brought back to his table - his name was Keith McFadden and as I remember he had the Day 1 chip lead which he held all the way to the FT. I think he finished 5th or 6th. An unorthodox playing style for sure but donk sounds a little green-eyed.

It definitely wasn't McFadden as he was on the table next to mine with Sexton and Rob Taylor. I tend to categorise players very quickly over just a few hands and "donk" is just a word I use. Sorry if this offends people.

patmac

|.Murderer.| wrote: »

I'll treat ya so .

.

If i die I want to come back as that pole.
Re: Donal. I also agree that the comment was uncalled for and as a punter I always found him amiable and approachable.

Hawk Eye

Ollieboy wrote: »

Firstly they all rig there TV tables, it's to create a fan base for the event and also increase the interest in it. WSOP is a example of this. TV coverage is good for the game in general.

Pretty sure ESPN dont rig the tv table they usually pick the most likely table to make good tv or if you look at the day 1's they just have the past champ and a load of randomers. There would be outrage from all the pros if it was any different as they're giving up a ton of equity having good players on the table obv.

ArmaniJeanss

PPP-Pit Boss wrote: »

When you are watching tennis on tv do they show you the semi-pros who put up a rather uninteresting show of the game?

OK, so Federer will be on Centre Court for every match. The difference is that he will playing against the person he was randomly drawn against. They won't have hand-picked an opponent for him in each round.

And your golf example is poor because whilst the draw is rigged so that some of the stars are put together in a 3ball for TV purposes, they are not directly competing against each other in the sense that they can't knock each other out of the competition.

Ollieboy

PPP-Pit Boss wrote: »

I can see your point at TV table not being random but I have you honestly ever seen a large poker event with a completely randomized feature / tv table? There is nothing in the rules that states that the feature table selection has to be randomized.

I know you are going to argue against me but sure you know how I like a jolly good bashing for my opinions.

The cost of televising an event like this is enormous. The purpose of televising an event like this is publicity / brand advertising.
When you are watching golf on tv.. who do they show?
When you are watching tennis on tv do they show you the semi-pros who put up a rather uninteresting show of the game?
In any televised sport / leisure game do they focus on the less interesting and well known players.

The fact is, if televised poker consisted of a table full of amateur unknowns, nobody would watch it, ratings would be rubbish and you would have more chance of Dustin winning the Eurovision than getting the program aired on national tv again.

And that is not the only reason, the company is only partially involved in these shows being made. The broadcaster has a considerable input alwell.

Finally we will try to randomise the IO featured table this year within reason, but there are a number of rules that restrict the practicality of this:


1. Players are permitted to wear sponsors logos (without a ".com") on their shirts only. These logos will be no larger than 10cm * 7cm on the left breast pocket and no larger than 8cm * 3cm on each sleeve.

2. Players may wear sunglasses, hats or other headgear provided there is no visible branding and the players speech and ears are visible.

5. Players general appearance and sponsors shirts must be neat and clean. These shirts must have sleeves and collars (polo shirts and t–shirts will not be permitted) and must not be white. Sponsors must be aware that their players will not be allowed play on the feature table in unsuitable clothing. Tournament Organiser’s decision will be final. Substitute shirts will be provided if available.

7. No more than one third of the feature table players may be sponsored by the one company.

While doing this we are trying not to disrupt the tournament flow as much as possible. Selecting players who are going to have to change their clothing before sitting at the table is likely to cause such a disruption.

It is not "Rigging". And I would add we did not have a seat selection for the IO feature table we waited until the first table broke to seat it.

So there is my fifteen and a half cents.

There's only one big problem with your view, Sponsor add Millions to the Golf Tour, so do the TV companies and etc and etc they even get free golf balls and dont pay for there round of golf. Nearly no MTT in the world as any add money except the poker Millions or other TV events. Any money that the IO costs PPP is well earn in TV coverage and free media advertising. But i dont want to single out PPP here, they are all the same, Pokerstars, Party etc.

Ollieboy

Hawk Eye wrote: »

Pretty sure ESPN dont rig the tv table they usually pick the most likely table to make good tv or if you look at the day 1's they just have the past champ and a load of randomers. There would be outrage from all the pros if it was any different as they're giving up a ton of equity having good players on the table obv.

Of course its rig, the point that they can pick any table makes it rig.

I remember when I played in 2006, I couldn't believe the action on the TV table and if the big name got knock out, he was replace with a big name player. This year I dont think it was as bad, as they had 2 or 3 tv tables, so more option for catching hand action, also they show so few hands in the tv coverage anyway, makes it easier for them

BigCityBanker

In fairness your gonna want big name after big name at the TV table. It was harldy surprising that I replaced Devilfish on the TV table last year at the IO. I was probably the only one left in the tourney at that stage with a similarly high profile.